In the field of piloting aids, whether they are flight management systems, commonly referred to by the acronym FMS, airport navigation systems, commonly called Onboard Airport Navigation System (OANS), or simply ANS, or even the mission preparation systems commonly called Electronic Flight Bag (EFB), there is a need to display a large number of information items and of varied data relating to the flight plans.
The data are input upstream during the preparation of a flight, for example, or during said flight, via a human-machine interface (HMI) of the FMS. The information that is input or the information that is computed for the flight plan may require the use of several screens to visualize it a posteriori, corresponding to as many different waypoints.
The technical navigating crews of modern aeroplanes are made up of two people, one on each side of the flight deck: a “captain” side and a “first officer” side. Each one views, on his or her HMIs, the pages that interest them. The term “page” refers to a set of data items representing an aspect of the operation of the aircraft. It is generally possible to display, during the execution of the mission, two pages from among the hundred or so possible pages:                the “flight plan” page which contains the information on the route followed by the aeroplane (list of the next waypoints with their associated predictions of distance, time, altitude, speed, fuel, and wind). The route is divided into segments, themselves composed of points (as described in patent FR2910678).        the “performance” page which contains the useful parameters for guiding the aeroplane in a short time interval (speed to follow, altitude ceilings, next altitude changes).        
The other typical pages available on board are:                the lateral and vertical revision pages which include the following pages:                    the “initialization” pages for initializing a route and its main parameters            the “departure” pages for inputting the departure procedures            the “arrival” pages for inputting the arrival procedures            the “airways” pages for inputting the list of air highways also known as “airways”.            the “Alternate” pages for inputting and checking the information on alternate airports            the pages of the temporary and secondary flight plans            the “DIR TO” page for carrying out a manoeuvre making it possible to directly join a waypoint            the page for inputting vertical constraints (altitude, speed, time)            the “HOLD” pages making it possible to input the holding stacks            the “Weather” pages for inputting wind and temperature information during the various phases of flight            the “Offset” pages making it possible to choose a route laterally offset to the left or right of the initial route                        the information pages which include the following pages:                    the “Data” pages for displaying data linked to elements of the navigation database according to the ARINC 424 standard: a page for stored Routes, a page for “waypoints”, a page for “radio beacons”, a page for “airports”            the “Status” pages which give the configuration of the aeroplane. There can be ten or so pages of this type.            the “location” pages making it possible to know the position of the aeroplane with the various sensors, the accuracy of navigation, the beacons used for navigation etc.            the “weight management” pages making it possible to input and to check the weights (empty weight, on-board fuel) and the centre of gravity            the “Route Summary” pages making it possible to display a summary of the Route or of the mission.                        
There is therefore a problem of incompatibility between the number of screens in a cockpit for checking the execution of the mission (1 per member of crew for the text information) and the number of pages that the captain wishes to display. Moreover, due to procedural constraints it is requested, as often as possible, to have a display with one defined page per side (1 captain side and 1 first officer side), during the execution of the mission. Typically, in the absence of modification to the flight plan in progress, the captain side displays the “flight plan” page and the first officer the “performance” page.
The prior art includes the U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,796 by Gibbs, which proposes a system making it possible to mask procedures or make them appear on the page presenting the flight plan. This patent concerns the concatenation of information already present on the “flight plan” page, in 2 or 3 rows, corresponding to the waypoint to which the aircraft is directed, and to the last waypoint to have been crossed through. However, this system does not make it possible to effectively and dynamically concatenate information contained over several pages, concerning the procedure in progress, and the following procedures. Indeed it only allows a single masking of an element (per procedure or per phase).
Also known is patent FR2910678 by the same applicant, which proposes a variant of vertical folding on several levels, but does not allow the concatenation of information originating from different pages.
Therefore these solutions do not allow information corresponding to several pages to be displayed on one and the same screen (one and the same page). Indeed, the current aerospace standards (in particular the ARINC 702 and ARINC661 standards) define for each page a fairly static structure, specific to each page, and do not allow the various pages to be mixed into a single one. Moreover, these solutions do not make it possible to determine the links to be made between the various pages for displaying in a dynamic, effective and intuitive manner for the captain the information necessary in the short, medium and long term on a single page.
The present invention meets this need.